Travel Day

Today was a travel day and travel days always bore the heck out of me. First of all, I woke up at 2:30 AM (ET) and could not get back to sleep. I tossed and turned until 3:30 AM and finally gave up. I got up and finished the last remaining tasks around the house.

The car to the airport picked me up at 6:15 AM and I was at the gate at BWI at 7:00 AM. The lines were non-existent. No line to check in, no line for security. They had changed the equipment for the flight, from an A320 to an A319, which meant my seat changed, but it was nothing dramatic. I got an exit row.

I fell asleep almost as soon as I took my seat, and didn’t wake up until well after takeoff. (Almost an hour after takeoff, I think.) That’s when the utter bordom began. If there is a hell, it is nothing more than a cross-country flight on an A319 that simply never ends. Time slowed down. I played Solitaire for an hour, which usually makes the time roll by but that didn’t work so well today. I listened to a couple of albums on the iPod (Pink Floyd’s “Animals” and the soundtrack from “Garden State”. Nothing. I popped in the Back to the Future II DVD and watched the movie. When it was over I checked the time–there was still more than two hours to go before we landed.

But land we finally (finally!) did and from that point on, things were very efficient. I was one of the first people off the plane and I was the first person to the baggage claim. That normally does not make a difference as my luggage is usually the last luggage off the plane, but fly often enough and things are bound to break your way once and a while. Today, my bags were the first to come out of the mouth of the baggage system. I caught a shuttle to Hertz where Doug, Rachel and Ruby were all waiting for me. We added Doug as an additional driver on the car and then made our way to Oxnard.

Mom and Dad were at Burbank Airport picking up Jen when we got to their house. But we made ourselves at home anyway. I wolfed down my Carl’s Jr. (a luxury that I don’t have in Maryland) and then ran over to the local cleaners to get me and Doug’s suits pressed. We pick up the suits Friday morning.

It is now 3:10 PM (PT). I have been up since 11:30 PM (last night) PT. I can tell this is going to be one of those long days. And tomorrow, we head down to Disneyland. Doug, Rachel and Ruby went out in search of a Starbucks. The house is momentarily quiet. Probably the last time it will be quiet for some time to come.